You probably already knew SSRN distributes scholarly research through our Subject Matter eJournals and does not take a copyright to papers submitted to our eLibrary. Authors are welcome to upload a research paper to SSRN, as long as they hold the appropriate rights. Although we review all papers to ensure they are part of the scholarly discourse, we are not a publisher, and submission to the eLibrary and distribution by SSRN is not considered publication.

But this doesn’t mean you won’t find published papers on SSRN…

SSRN has built relationships with numerous scholarly journals and publishers through our Partners in Publishing (PIP) program.  PIP includes forthcoming and published papers from over 1,800 scientific journals and research institutions. These relationships allow journals to post their published materials to the SSRN eLibrary.

This allows you to browse though pre-publication working papers and published research. Start by selecting a network, at SSRN.com and clicking on “Partners in Publishing”. For example, within the Finance network, you will find the following:

You can subscribe to any these eJournals for free and stay aware of the latest published research. Many of the journals provide free, downloadable papers. Some require a nominal fee, but you’ll never pay more on SSRN than you would anywhere else, including buying directly from the publisher.

This allows publishers to reach a broader, interdisciplinary audience for their journals and authors the opportunity to have their research read outside of the printed journal. Basically, PIP benefits publishers, authors and readers by providing another means for published research to be read and utilized.